Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Doctor Who Vs. Ripper Street, Series 4

Following cancellation by the BBC in late 2013, this period drama was resurrected by Tiger Aspect for Amazon Video a year later. The series was then renewed for another two seasons in 2015. The fourth run premiered on Amazon UK early this year, was shown on BBC America in July, and only returned to British terrestrial TV this month.

1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Three years on since the events of series three, and former inspector Edmund Reid (again portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen) is drawn back to Whitechapel to investigate a case that condemns Isaac Bloom to death. Meanwhile, Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) awaits her execution in Newgate prison.
Regular series actors Jerome Flynn (as DI Drake), Adam Rothenberg (Captain Jackson), and Charlene McKenna (Rose Erskine) were now joined by Matthew Lewis (as Sergeant Drummond), Killian Scott (Commissioner Dove), Benjamin
O'Mahony (DS Thatcher), and David Threlfall (Croker). The fourth season ofRipper Street began on BBC Two last night, and also featured ten Doctor Who cast connections:

The Strangers' Home
(Amazon TX: January 15 2016/US TX: July 28/UK TX: August 22 & 29)

Andrew Brooke (Teague) was Kahler-Tek, aka the Gunslinger, in A Town Called Mercy

Derek Riddell (Constantine) and Stewart Scudamore (Risaldar-Major) both starred in Big Finish'sThe Churchill Years (2016), as Lt. Commander Sandy McNish and Danvers respectively - Riddell was also Sir Robert MacLeish in Tooth and Claw

Ian Gelder (Chamberlain) voiced both the Commander and the Pirate for Legend of the Cybermen (2010)

prosthetics supervisor Waldo Mason was in the SFX crew for Aliens of London

Men of Iron, Men of Smoke (Amazon TX: February 5)

Owen Teale (Hackman) was Maldak in Vengeance on Varos, and voiced Hayton for The Mind's Eye (BF, 2007)

No Wolves in Whitechapel (Amazon TX: February 12)

veteran Northern screen actor and prolific Big Finish artist David Warner (Rabbi Steiner) portrayed an Unbound Doctor for Sympathy for the Devil (2003), Masters of War (2008) and The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 3: The Unbound Universe (2016), then voiced Sir Isaac Newton for Circular Time: Summer (2007), Co-ordinator Angell for Empathy Games (2008), Professor Boston Schooner for Deimos and The Resurrection of Mars (both 2010), Autarch Siris for The Children of Seth (2011), Biggs for The Rosemariners (2012), the Narrator of The Black Hole, Dr. Luke Betterman for Jago & Litefoot (both 2015), Shadovar for The War Doctor 2: Infernal Devices (2016), and Cuthbert for the Fourth Doctor adventures The Sands of Life, War Against the Laan, The Dalek Contract, The Final Phase (all 2013), Casualties of War and The Pursuit of History (both 2016) - he also voiced Lord Azlok for Dreamland (2009) and finally had a television role as Professor Grisenko in Cold War

Edmund Reid Did This (Amazon TX: February 19)

Mark Dexter (Donaldson) was Dad in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead